Potty Training: Transitioning to Big Boy or Girl

Every child is unique when it comes to potty training, and figuring out if it’s time for your little boy or girl to ditch their diapers and start potty training is a challenge. Be careful, however; Potty training (although many parents claim it’s easy) can become a daunting task. And don’t plan on Junior giving up his Pampers cold turkey. Potty training takes time and patience.

No more diapers!

Young children are extremely stubborn, and this extends to their grooming habits. There is no one cure-all or one-fix-all method for potty training, but it is a mix of trial and error and hard work. Getting the child out of diapers is best accomplished when there is tangible motivation and rewards involved. Your reward will be not buying more expensive diapers and not having to pay for diaper service.

When you’re ready to start potty training, make sure you and your child are ready because there really is no going back. There is no specific age to start potty training, but any time after 18 months is good. You will know when the time is right for your child; some parents start potty training their children as early as 18 months, while others may wait until the child is two or even three years old.

Training pants and urinals

Once you’ve made the determination that your son is ready to give up his baby diaper for big boy pants, find some underwear-style training pants for him to wear, either the disposable type or “Pull-ups” or the reusable/washable variety. You might even consider allowing the child to be around when shopping for training pants and allowing him to choose which one he likes best.

It’s also a good idea to splurge on underwear emblazoned with your child’s favorite cartoon character; this adds more interest to the article from the child’s perspective. When shopping for training pants, don’t look back. Get rid of all the diapers in your house and make sure the child sees you throw them away.

Going back to diapers will only slow down the potty training process and may reinforce any apprehensions your child has about wearing training pants. You may also want to purchase a potty chair or a special seat that will fit on top of your toilet.

Starting

Once you have started putting your son in training pants, it is important to ask him frequently throughout the day if he needs to go to the bathroom. Expect the child to forget the fact that she is trying to potty train him; needs to be prompted for the first few weeks (or months in some children) to go to the bathroom.

He may not go every time, but when he does, be sure to praise him and let him know what a “big kid” he’s becoming. The goal at the end of the process is for the child to be able to go to the bathroom independently without her help or prompting, but that can go a long way and patience will be needed to achieve it.

On average, it takes about eight months to fully potty train a child, and some may need a full year to achieve independent toileting patterns.

Tips to remember

The following tips will help you as you work with your child to develop proper grooming skills:

· Let the child feel as much in control of the process as possible; this means not dressing them in clothing that is difficult to remove or has multiple buttons and snaps. Stretchy pants that are easy to get on and off are ideal.

Place the potty next to the toilet and have a potty for each bathroom in the house that the child may use.

· Consider a potty that changes color at the bottom when the child urinates; kids love to see that happen and sometimes go to the bathroom just for that reason.

· Buy some children’s books on potty training and read them to your child to reinforce the skills you are working on together.

· Create a reward chart and give the child a special sticker to place on the chart when using the potty; place the chart on the bottom of the refrigerator for easy access.

· Never scold the child when he has an accident; Potty training has a learning curve and you will eventually get it right!